Shortly after joining the Latter Day Saint church, Toronto's ship collided with another, which almost resulted in Toronto's drowning. Toronto abandoned sailing and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1845 to join the main gathering of Latter Day Saints. He donated his life's savings — nearly $2600 in gold coins — to the building of the Nauvoo Temple; Toronto's donation enabled work to continue after it had stalled due to lack of funds.[2]
In 1849, Toronto was ordained a seventy in the LDS Church. In 1850, he traveled with Lorenzo Snow and Thomas B. H. StenhousetoEngland and then on to continental Europe and became the first LDS Church missionaries in Italy.[3] Toronto and his associates met with little success due in part to opposition from the Italian media and government. In 1851, Snow and Toronto hired an Italian to translate the Book of Mormon into Italian, a project that was completed by 1852.
Toronto's grandson Wallace F. Toronto served as president of the CzechoslovakiaMission of the LDS Church in absentia for 25 years as well as serving once as a missionary and twice more as mission president in Czechoslovakia. Joseph Toronto's grandson Lamont F. Toronto served as Secretary of State of Utah for 12 years, from 1952 to 1964.
Joseph's grandson (Wallace F. Toronto's younger brother) the late Joseph Young Toronto served in the first presidency of the Provo Temple (1971).